Buyers of Rosneft Shares
Acquire Risk But No Bonus

By

Andrew Langley

Updated July 4, 2006 12:01 a.m. ET

MOSCOW -- A complex application process is just one obstacle to retail investors wanting in on the initial public offering of shares in OAO Rosneft, Russia's largest IPO to date. It is billed as a way to spread share ownership and shake off past privatization scandals, but the government hasn't offered individual investors the incentives common in other big European IPOs.